1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for connecting smoking article components with glued connecting sheets fed on a suction roller with a defined spacing, and feeding at least one cigarette/tip group (or cigarette/filter group) on a grooved drum.
The present invention also relates to a device for connecting smoking article components with glued connecting sheets fed on a suction roller with a defined spacing, and for conveying at least one cigarette/tip group on a grooved drum. The invention further relates to a machine of the tobacco processing industry, in particular, filter tipping machines.
According to the instant invention, a defined spacing refers to a spacing determined by a predetermined length of the connecting sheets.
2. Discussion of Background Information
A device for connecting cigarette/tip groups by winding with glued connecting sheets is known, e.g., from European Patent Application No. EP-A-0 687 424, according to which the smoking article components are moved through a rolling channel and thereby turned about their own axis during their forward movement.
A process and device of the type described above are used, e.g., in packaging filter cigarettes conveyed in a cross-axial manner on a so-called “filter tipping machine.” Their capacity regarding the articles produced and discharged per unit time has increased sharply again and again over years or had to be adapted to the increased capacity of the upstream cigarette rod machine. As a partial installation on a filter tipping machine, the roll device mentioned at the outset thereby reaches a critical capacity limit, exceeding which can inevitably lead to a reduction in quality or increased tobacco wastage, damage, deformation or even destruction of the produced cigarettes.
Published German Patent Application No. DE 25 17 299 discloses a device for connecting coating paper strips and cigarette filter/cigarette groups, in which the coating paper is fed on a grooved drum. During the transfer of the groups to the coating paper feed drum, the coating paper is wrapped around the group.
Furthermore, a generic process and a generic device for connecting smoking articles are described in European Patent No. EP-B-0 821 887. According to the technical teaching, smoking article components are connected by two consecutive rolling procedures. The first partial rolling hereby occurs in the seat of the grooved drum during and at the transfer of the connecting sheet to a cigarette/tip group. The end rolling is conducted in the form of a multiple rolling of the partially connected components in another process step.